WESTLAKE — Clearview may be peaking at the right time of the season.

Thursday, the Clippers sped away from Vermilion, 76-59, to advance to the Division II district final against Bay on Saturday. Clearview, now 20-2 on the year, is playing for its first shot at a regional berth since 1997 when it defeated Lutheran West for a Division III crown at Elyria High. Vermilion, the two-time defending district champion, exits this year’s field at 14-9.

“We played all four quarters finally,” said senior guard Anthony Hitchens, who led the way with a career-high 28 points. “Usually we give up a quarter, but we wanted it bad. We’ve been blessed with athletes and decent quickness and size and strength — everything. We have no excuses. That’s why we push ourselves. We have the team to make a run in this tournament.”

Clearview’s superior quickness was the difference. At the start of the season, the Sailors won an early non-conference game.

But the Clippers jumped in front early Thursday and forced Vermilion into a lot of mistakes. Hitchens, Tony Williams and Kyle Baughman disrupted Vermilion’s offense at the perimeter with Eric Thompson, Collin Owens and Aaron Arnozcky doing the job inside. The Watson twins — Colin and Kevin — along with Jacob Senquiz came in to spell the starters and maintain the defensive effort. Williams had 13 points with Thompson and Baughman each contributing 12.

“We used our athleticism on the defensive end,” said Clearview coach John Szalay. “If you can get a kid to do that, that’s really important. Hitchens had six steals and a lot of them led to breakaway layups. Those kids busted on the defensive end. Then you bring in an Owens or a Watson and they do the same thing. It’s a team win. Our kids played fast and played hard all night but we have to do it again Saturday.”

“We knew they were a quick team,” said Nick Farley, who led Vermilion with 24 points. “We knew they’d pressure us. We knew what we had to do but it just didn’t happen. We didn’t complete passes that should have been completed. We didn’t run our offense like it should have been ran. We didn’t play the best defense we could have played.”

All of what Farley talked about can be directly attributed to Clearview’s quickness. The Clippers challenged every bounce of the ball, every pass and every move. Vermilion turned it over 20 times on the night.

“We can’t simulate that kind of quickness in practice,” said Vermilion coach Kurt Habermehl. “We talked before the game and we knew that any turnovers we had couldn’t result in fast breaks. They had a lot of opportunities — especially in the first half.”

“We keep track of deflections,” Szalay said. “Deflections lead to turnovers. We do a good job of doing that. Vermilion’s a great-coached team. They wouldn’t let us pull away. It went to the foul line.  Hitchens makes 11 of 13, Baughman steps up and makes them in the fourth quarter. Thank goodness for that.”

Vermilion trailed by as many as 19 points early in the final quarter, but refused to quit. The Sailors trimmed the margin to 67-58 at one point but were forced to gamble and foul on defense, hoping Clearview would miss. It didn’t. The Clippers were 17-of-21 at the foul line in the fourth quarter.  Hitchens made seven of eight. Baughman made seven of nine.

“Coach sat me down after I missed a one-and-one,” said Baughman. “He said he needs me, he believes in me. I just need to believe in myself. I made the rest of them. I took coach’s words to heart. What he says, I try to do.”

“Second half, we had to sell out on defense and that’s not us,” Habermehl said. “Coach Szalay is a great coach and does a great job. They just outplayed us. We thought if we could get them to miss a couple (free throws) and come down and score, we could get back in the game,” Habermehl said. “It worked a little bit, but not enough.”

Dan Oates came off the bench for 12 points for the Sailors, but he, Cameron Zima and Mitch Novak all fouled out trying to play catch-up.

“When they cut it down to eight or nine, there had been times where we’ve kind of unraveled,” Szalay said. “We’d try to do too much. (Thursday), we pulled it out and got it in the right people’s hands. (Vermilion) hit some threes (seven for the game) but I thought we defended pretty well. Farley had a great game but he had to work for every thing he got. We’re just happy to advance.”

Clearview 76, Vermilion 59

VERMILION (59): Madison Montgomery 3-0-9, Cameron Zima 4-0-8, Aaron McCann 0-0-0, Cody Timbs 1-0-2, Nick Farley 8-7-24, Mitch Novak 1-0-2, Dan Oates 3-3-12, Ben Kitchen 1-0-2, Andy Ingram 0-0-0, Clay Malin 0-0-0, Jordan Gillespie 0-0-0, Cory Fox 0-0-0. Totals 21-10-59.

CLEARVIEW (76): Tony Williams 4-3-13, Anthony Hitchens 8-11-28, Collin Owens 2-0-4, Eric Thompson 5-2-12, Kyle Baughman 2-8-12, Colin Watson 0-0-0, Aaron Arnozcky 2-0-4, Kevin Watson 0-0-0, Jacob Senquiz 1-1-3, Davon Daniels 0-0-0, Curtis Alston 0-0-0, Zach Anderson 0-0-0. Totals 24-25-76.

Vermilion 13    12    13    21    —    59

Clearview 19    17    17    23    —    76

Three-point goals: Vermilion 7-19 (Montgomery 3, Oates 3, Farley), Clearview 3-11 (Williams 2, Hitchens). Field goals: Vermilion 21-44 (48 percent), Clearview 24-46 (52 percent). Free throws: Vermilion 10-17 (59 percent), Clearview 25-34 (73 percent). Rebounds: Vermilion 24 (Zima, Novak 5), Clearview 31 (Thompson 7). Turnovers: Vermilion 24, Clearview 13. Fouls: Vermilion 26, Clearview 19. Fouled Out: Zima, Novak, Oates.

Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7136 or at ctsports@chroniclet.com.

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